81 posts from February 2010

February 27, 2010

Mayor Richard Daley today defended White House social secretary Desiree Rogers, who's leaving the job after being criticized for an incident where two uninvited guests crashed a state dinner in November.

"There's only one group responsible for the security of the White House and the president. There's only one person, that's the Secret Service," the mayor said. "Let's stop blaming her for anybody walking in there, because no one can stop anyone with the exception of the Secret Service," he said.

Dog-owning Gov. Pat Quinn will stop by the International Kennel Club dog show today, just days after his Republican rival came under fire for supporting legislation that would allow multiple animals to be euthanized at the same time.

Illinois law requires that companion animals be euthanized one at a time. State Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington, the presumptive Republican governor nominee, wanted to change that to allow multiple animals to be put down at once.

Animal rights groups said that's because a business in Brady's state Senate district operates an animal gas chamber, which they argue is cruel because it can take up to 30 minutes for animals to die.

Brady has since dropped the legislation, but it wouldn't come as a surprise if Quinn seizes on the matter when he appears at the dog show event at McCormick Place today. Quinn's campaign pushed the issue this week.

February 26, 2010

UPDATED AT 3:10 p.m. -- where to apply for lt. governor job.; originally posted by Monique Garcia at 12:50 p.m.

Gov. Pat Quinn says the public will have a chance to vet his potential lieutenant governor running mates via a web site that will feature biographies and background information of those interested in the state’s number two post.

The state Democratic Party, led by chairman and House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, announced a short time later that applicants for the job could download an application from the party's Web site and send it back for posting.

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said anyone who answers the short questionnaire can have their information posted to the site, but the Democratic State Central Committee will decide who to interview for the job.

"We intend for this to be an open and transparent process," Madigan said in a news release. "Anyone that believes he or she has strengths to bring to the ticket is encouraged to submit their name for consideration."

While the decision of who will be paired with Quinn on the November ticket is ultimately up to the ruling central committee, Quinn said today posting information online about those who want the spot will ensure there’s an “open process.”

The lieutenant governor’s spot is up for grabs after embattled Chicago pawnbroker Scott Lee Cohen stepped down shortly after winning the primary election.

February 24, 2010

SPRINGFIELD --- The Senate today approved pushing Illinois primary elections back to March following an experiment that first helped Barack Obama clear a path to the presidency in 2008 and then left Democrats with the Scott Lee Cohen debacle for lieutenant governor earlier this month.

The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Deanna Demuzio, D-Carlinville, would make the statewide primary election the third Tuesday in March, where it had been for decades.

House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, pushed the primary date to February so that Obama would get the benefit of racking up a victory in a populous Midwestern state early in the national primary season. That worked. But the short campaign season backfired for Democrats this year when primary voters chose Cohen as the lieutenant governor one day and tawdry details about his past emerged and caused him to drop out.

The move to March would be in even-numbered years, covering both presidential campaigns and the alternating period when statewide races for governor and other offices take place. The measure now goes to the House for consideration.

SPRINGFIELD --- The Illinois Senate today approved new restrictions on the controversial century-old practice of lawmakers handing out scholarships to students at state universities, an often-abused award that has been distributed to relatives, political donors and the children of political allies.

The legislation, sent to the House by a 54-0 vote, would ban a legislator from giving the scholarship to someone whose family could be linked to a campaign contribution within the previous five years. In addition, family members of a scholarship recipient could not give a campaign contribution to a lawmaker who distributed the award.

Further restrictions would require a recipient to be accepted into a school before the scholarship could be awarded.

Though they voted in favor of the restrictions, many Republicans maintained the scholarships should be banned rather than continued with restrictions.

For years, the Tribune and other media outlets have shown that lawmakers often award the scholarships to campaign contributors.

In September, a Tribune analysis of scholarship and other public data from the past five years shows some lawmakers gave free rides to the children of campaign donors, party loyalists and state employees. At least three students whose fathers were later charged with public corruption had their tuitions waived by Democratic lawmakers.

SPRINGFIELD --- The Illinois House today voted to scale back the number of senior citizens who get free rides on buses and trains, leaving the freebies for the poorest and raising the fare to half-price for others.

Applying the means-testing to the free ride program would generate about $37 million, said sponsoring Rep. Suzanne Bassi, R-Palatine.

The measure passed 83-27, with three voting present. The Senate also must approve and Gov. Pat Quinn must sign the measure for it to become law. You can see how the House voted by clicking here.

Under the bill, senior citizens 65 and older would keep riding for free if they qualify for the state's circuit breaker program. A one-person household with an income of $27,610 would be eligible under the guidelines. A two-person household could have a maximum income of $34,635. The Circuit Breaker program is used to set income guidelines to give seniors property tax relief and aid to buy prescription drugs.

Seniors with higher incomes would ride at half price on the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace. That's the same discount seniors got before then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich demanded the free ride program in return for signing a sales tax increase to bail out the bus and rail agencies two years ago.

Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, saying he opposed the legislation, argued he refused to put bloated transit bureaucracies over senior citizens.

Under Madigan's proposed constitutional amendment, a lieutenant governor elected this November would serve four years before the office went away.

The House Executive Committee voted 8-0, with three voting present, to send the measure to the full House. But it still must be approved by the Senate and voters also would have to sign off this November.

Dillard aids Brady, admits hopes slim

Trailing in GOP governor race, he awaits vote totals

By Rick Pearson, Tribune reporter

Even as state Sen. Kirk Dillard still hopes a counting error will cut
into state Sen. Bill Brady's slim lead in the Republican governor's
contest, he's already helping his rival prepare for the general
election campaign against Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn.

"Other than Bill, no one wants this over faster than I do," said
Dillard, a veteran lawmaker from Hinsdale. "I want to get on with my
life."

Dillard's comments came Tuesday as county clerks and election officials
representing the 110 ballot-counting agencies across Illinois sent the
findings of their canvass of Feb. 2 primary results to the State Board
of Elections. The elections panel is scheduled to certify the results
March 5.

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

The Cook County Assessor's office has put together lists of projected median property tax bills for all suburban towns and city neighborhoods. We've posted them for you to get a look at who's paying more and who's paying less.

Past posts

Clout has a special meaning in Chicago, where it can be a noun, a verb or an adjective. This exercise of political influence in a uniquely Chicago style was chronicled in the Tribune cartoon "Clout Street" in the early 1980s. Clout Street, the blog, offers an inside look at the politics practiced from Chicago's City Hall to the Statehouse in Springfield, through the eyes of the Tribune's political and government reporters.